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What Was "THE BOOK" That Made You A Reader?
Most kids today are living in a different world than we used, well people of a particular age and I think they either cannot relate to Trixie Belden or cannot escape wit those books. Lots of people read to escape, sometimes me included. But I feel ya. I liked Nancy Drew and Laura Ingles Wilder also.
I don't remember... because there have been so many I've loved..... and continue to love. Her Majesty, Grace Jones made me think I belonged in a royal family, The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler and Harriet the Spy made me feel I could do anything. Sara Crewe taught me to be kind, no matter the circumstances, while Miss Suzy and Yertle the Turtle helped me learn that standing up for yourself and what's right without being mean. Trixie Belden, The Bobbsy Twins helped me learn about teamwork and Nancy Drew was my fantasy grown-up me: rich, popular, smart and an adventurer. A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe pulled me into a fantastical world where children were the heroes. I just realized that ALL these titles have strong, fearless female characters and fight injustice, which must have appealed to me... but also makes me wonder why I turned out to be such a fraidy cat.
I remember reading Little Women in a greek edition with my sister when we were like 10 years old! Such a lovely hard copy with beautiful cover outside and font inside !!
Are you there God? It's me, Margaret Lol!
The book that turned me into an avid reader was Eragon. I remember I was 12 and I was volunteering after school at the library when I came across the book. I thought it looked intriguing so it was the first book I ever signed out of the library! Needless to say I didn't put it down until I finished, I stayed up day and night. I could not help but get so developed in the characters. It felt like I was living there life, like I could see the things they did or hear their voices. It was wonderful and ever since then I've been so intrigued by books!
The book that made me a reader was Ken Follett's " The Pillars of the Earth". I was 15, maybe 16 years old when I read this book for the first time. I was captured by Follett's imagination that much, that over the past 20 years I read this title about four times. I guess it was Follett's ability to draw pictures in my mind instantly that kept me going page after page. This "mental cinema" was amazing. I felt like I was a part of the story, walking around the woods with Tom Builder and feeling the unfairness of all those intrigues coming up here and there. It was interesting to find out that my focus had shifted every time I re-read this book. The first time I was surely focused on the story between Jack and Aliena but by the second time, my focus had already shifted to the relationship between Prior Philip and Waleran Bigod. There are so many layers, so many twists and turns in this book that it is almost impossible to lay it aside. Although there has been a movie in the meantime I would strongly recommend to read the book in the first place. Will I ever read it again? I guess so. To me, it has become like a classic movie you watch once in while. So whenever I should feel the urgent need to walk in the woods of 12th-century medieval England you will find me on my couch with that old and tattered edition of " The Pillars of the Earth".
I honestly don't remember what actual book started my love of reading. I remember loving to read "The Great Brain" series every year in school because the only place I could find it was the school library and you had to get put on a waiting list for them. I also devoured The Hardy Boys books. by the time I was 10 I could sit and read one in a couple of hours. I don't have near the time to read that I did as a kid, but I am working on getting 2 books a month read.
I remember reading the diary of a wimpy series. One summer I read most of the series then I read other books from my library.
I think it was "Treasure Island" which I first read when I was about 12 years of age.
.The Harry Potter books. I had always liked to read, but when I first read the Harry Potter books, I immediately fell in love with them.
Nobody in my family reads so first ended up in the library with a school trip. We *had* to choose a book so I chose the one from the Goosebump series. Later on I picked Roald Dahl - The Witches wich started my weekly - voluntary - trip to the library!
Anne of Green Gables (The Illustrated Version). It was the first book my dad bought me from a bookstore. About 25 years later I still have it.
On a family vacation and fresh out of high school in 1973 we traveled to Yellowstone National Park and in our ignorance bypassed important battlefields in the conflict with Native Americans. On our return home we made a stop at Grand Canyon National Park and I stumbled upon Great Western Indian Fights. After reading the book I was saddened to learn that we had been so near interesting sites such as Custer's Last Stand and missed the chance to visit. This awoke an internal need for historical knowledge that continues to burn strong. I've since returned numerous times and continue to seek out new sites of historical interest to visit and study. The interest in reading is as strong today, if not stronger. It's not always history that I read and I always have a good novel handy.
when I was 8, Black Beauty by Sewall. A forgotten Classic.
Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators series hooked me when I was thirteen years old. I've just bought some old copies for my class so I can show the students what got me reading. They can then talk about what helped them catch the bug if they have already, or what might get them reading if not. It's an important part of life.
I can't remember a specific book, but it would probably have been by Enid Blyton. I couldn't get enough of her books once I could read proficiently.
My childhood reading was filled with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Katie John by Mary Calhoun. Beverly Cleary, too. When I was about 11, I picked up Are You There, God, It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. I read a lot of Blume around this time. Also during those years were the Silhouette paperbacks that I hid under my bed (how did I ever dig up the money for those subscriptions?) 13/14 years old - The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. Anything by Hinton. Teen years - Sweet Valley High, Lois Duncan, Cynthia Voigt...The book that changed everything was The Persian Boy by Mary Renault. I was 17. After that, no more teen lit for me. I never looked back.
I've always wanted to read books ever since I was little, I even learned to spell my name just so I could get a library card. when I was in kindergarten I loved listening to mrs wishy washy being read aloud. when I was in middle School I fell in love with the secret garden book, and r.l Stine's goosebumps series is what got me into scary stories. when I got older I discovered Stephen King books. insomniac was the first adult book I read, which was by Stephen King.
Harry Potter got me into it. I went to a camp, having only read 8 pages of the first book. I went for 2 nights, and I had only 8 pages left. Pretty much from that moment on I was hooked on reading. Now I am nearly 24 I just had an assessment for ADHD and the assessor asked me if I thought reading could be classed as a 'special interest' for me, and she is now referring me to the adult autism specialist (not just because of this but I thought it interesting!)
Nancy Drew books when I was young. I used to devour them as fast as I could get my hands on them.
You are not going to believe me if I tell you the name of the book which made me a reader. One of my friends was debating whether to read Fifty shades or not. And she obliged me to read even though she knew I'm going to end up throwing that book to thrash. That's what I usually did before when the book was utterly boring. And after reading that book I don't know what snapped in me. Whatever it was, it was amazing because I started reading. And I'm glad for it. I can't believe someone like me enjoys reading. There's nothing wrong with reading. I just seemed to hate it before. but now it seems that I would also kick my best friend just to let me read without any freaky comments he makes.
Reading in Spanish: The book that got me reading was Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. But the book that made me an avid reader was Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez even though I was too young to be reading it at the time.
Readining in English at school:
Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville
The Invisible Man
and The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The book that really got me interested in reading was "A Rose for Melinda" by Lurlene McDaniel. Beautiful book!
I've always been a fan of series books, so growing up I devoured The Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, The Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, and eventually the Harry Potter series. On recently reread the Harry Potter series and in was nostalgia at it's best.
Definitely the Dragon Orb series by Mark Robson. Those books really inspired me to write also
The Oz books--literally the first "chapter" books I ever read myself. We'd get them from the public library, and I would beg my mother to read them to me. Once, when I was around 6 or 7, Mom was busy. I didn't want to wait, so I picked up whichever Oz book we were into and tried to read it myself. I still remember the rush of pure joy when I realized I could read a real book (not a picture book) myself. That was well over 40 years ago, and I've never stopped reading.
The Bible. I found listening to the sermons on Sunday boring but loved the stories in the Bible, so I would read it instead.
Tom Sawyer when I was 7. After that I hounded my brother to walk me the several miles to the library to check out books which I would stumble home with skinny arms full with books piled higher than my head. I literally ate books up and spent all my summers reading.
James and the giant peach. I read that story as a young child and fell in love with books ever since.
My mom used to go yard sales a lot and one day when I was in elementary school she brought home a huge box full of books from a yard sale many of them were Goosebumps and I’ve been obsessed ever since. I could not stop reading my mom would tell me multiple times to go to sleep for school the next day but I’d stay up and read constantly. When she brought me the first Harry Potter book I realized reading was a beautiful escape for me. Living in poverty and not having the best childhood reading brought me a lot of joy in my life. It’s like my mind could go to another world. Our house burnt down to the ground when I was young and I stood where my room used to be and mourned all my burnt books on my bookshelf. They’re all I really cared about losing. I stopped reading as intensely for awhile after that and have revisited my love for books as an adult.
I've not met many who've even heard of the series - but I LOVED the Danny Dunn series. The book that a school librarian gave me that started my loved of this series (and books in general) was Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine
Probably, as with many fantasy readers and writers, the book that truly made me an avid fantasy reader, and gave me the desire to write fantasy, was The Hobbit. What a classic. And then, I would have to say reading the Wizard of Earthsea series also gave me a love for reading.
Wow, so many books ago...my mom started me on the Little Golden books early, they were my treasures. I recall being 3 or 4 and being mad at Mom, so I gathered up all my books and ran away to a bench in the yard. She let me sit there and read through them all before coaxing me back into the house.I often got in trouble with my dad because I'd take a book with me to read in the barn while doing chores.
I loved mysteries and adventures. Still do.
Let's see...first books that made me a reader, hmmm? Like others have said there were the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobsy Twins, and Trixie Beldon series, but I recall Phyllis A. Whitney's Mystery of the Haunted Pool and a book about a haunted snowglobe (can't remember its name) really hooked me. Then came Lassie Come-Home, National Velvet, Black Beauty, Misty of Chincoteague, Stormy, Misty's Foal, and...well needless to say there are so many books I've forgotten that I've read, but threads of them still exist in me, in my heart.
I have always been I big reader but I would say the first big chapter book that made the reader I am today would have to be The Hunger Games. After I read The Hunger Games I started to read books that were way beyond my level and maybe books I shouldn't have read and age nine such as Paper Towns.
When I was little my grandmother read 2 us all the time. Some of the books was on albums. When I was 12 some gave me a book called all that glitters isn't gold. Can't remember who wrote is but I haven't stop since and I'll be 50 next month.
Great question! I'm finding it very hard down memory lane to actually pinpoint which was the first proper book that made me a reader. I'm just going to list the couple below:The Secret Garden
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Tower Treasure Hardy Boys
Five on a Treasure Island
Little House on the Prairie
The Earthsea Trilogy
Magician
The book that made me a reader was, was Prodigal Son by dean Koontz. Read the whole series three times now. Dean koontz is my favourite writer.
Diane wrote: "OMG - the boxcar kids! I loved those books - thanks for reminding me.I have loved books - my mother read to me all the time - and I started with Nancy Drew and Judy Bolten. I actually liked Judy b..."
Wow. Is it just me or some of those books have been mentioned in Steven universe? (the no-home boys)
For YEARS I was in a reading slump. I hated books of all kinds— or at least I thought I did. Whenever someone would say “Oh, you just haven’t found the right book yet.” I internally sighed. I never believed it to be true. Until I found the book The Ward by Jordana Frankel. It ignited something in me, and the second book, The Isle, was even more compelling. I loved the books so much that I didn’t want to read any others because I thought there was no way they’d be just as good. But I talked to my friend who helped me discover the Serafina series by Robert Beatty. I love, Love, LOVED it so much and now I am inspired to become avid reader for books of all kinds!I’m sure we’re all book nerds here, but for those of you in a reading slump, you WILL find the right book eventually. I am so thankful that I did
My cousin brother and aunt were big readers and i first got into books through the enid blyton. She ruled almost my entire childhood till 9-10. From 10-12 i didn't read a lot of books like i read the KOTLC series and loved it. I also read Red Queen at 11. But 5 months ago i picked the mortal instruments as my friends always talked about it. That is what really got me into reading, I have read like 30-40 books ever since then and it keeps growing. So i owe it to Cassie for bringing my back to the reading game!
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I hardly ever see anyone else mention Trixie Belden but this was my absolute favorite series as a child!